Which document governs when the spec and the drawing disagree?
A free checker for the question every PM and estimator hits eventually. Pick your contract family and see the general order of precedence — and why the safe move is almost never to just pick one.
Check your order of precedence
General order of precedence
How to read this
"Order of precedence" is the ranking a contract uses to settle a fight between its own documents. When two documents say different things, the higher-ranked one wins — but only after you've confirmed both are the current revision. A conflict between an old drawing and a new spec usually isn't a precedence question at all; it's a superseded-revision question, and the latest revision governs regardless of document type. More on superseded revisions →
The most common myth is "specs always govern over drawings." That's a clause some owners write, not a default. AIA A201-2017 §1.2.1 explicitly treats the contract documents as complementary and what's required by one is as binding as if required by all — it directs the contractor to report discrepancies rather than rank one above the other. So on a stock AIA job, the honest answer to "which governs?" is often "neither — ask." Deep dive: spec vs drawing →
This is exactly the problem IntelMS is built to catch
IntelMS reads your project's actual documents, answers spec/drawing/RFI questions from the latest revision with the exact sheet and spec section cited, and flags a conflict for a human instead of guessing — it never silently picks a winner on a contractual call. Try it on one real project, free for 14 days.
Frequently asked
When a spec and a drawing disagree, which one governs?
It depends on your contract's order-of-precedence clause. Many standard contracts do not make specs automatically govern over drawings; AIA A201 treats them as complementary and tells you to request clarification. Confirm both are the latest revision, then read your precedence article.
Do specifications always take priority over drawings?
No. "Specs govern over drawings" is a custom-clause convention, not a default. The governing rank is whatever your contract says, and supplementary conditions can override the standard form.
What is order of precedence in a construction contract?
It's the contractually defined ranking that resolves conflicts between contract documents — typically agreement and modifications, addenda, supplementary conditions, general conditions, specifications, then drawings — but the exact order is set by your specific contract.
What should I do when I find a conflict?
Don't pick the cheaper reading. Confirm latest revisions, check the precedence clause, and if any ambiguity or cost/schedule/code/safety impact remains, issue an RFI so the design team resolves it in writing — and record it. What is an RFI →